Question for the learned: is there a difference in the affect that a cross wind exerts on a pellet’s flight path at 80F the same/different than that of the same wind at 30F. Help me out I’m looking for excuses here. Uj
Winter wind
- Thread starter Uglyjohn
- Start date
I have another one for you.. my friends worry about shooting in the wind but shoot out through the open window when it's raining.. I've done it and I have to admit it is nice to still be able to shoot without getting wet.. now here's the matching question..
so if wind affects the pellet..it definitely does.. what about all the impacts of the rain hitting the pellet as it travels through the rain?
myself I don't know, I also don't care whether it still or blowing sideways, I'll shoot when I get a chance and just try to compensate for the wind..
but I have a better excuse for missing the target, my thyroid messed up and I'm shaking too much.. although I have been able to shake and pull the trigger when the sights line up if it is under 50 yards.. unfortunately I can't even hit the target or for that matter keep it in the scope at 100 yards and I was in the process of getting set up to shoot 200-500 yards.. now I can't even hit 100..
but I'm thankful for the fun of shooting.
Mark
so if wind affects the pellet..it definitely does.. what about all the impacts of the rain hitting the pellet as it travels through the rain?
myself I don't know, I also don't care whether it still or blowing sideways, I'll shoot when I get a chance and just try to compensate for the wind..
but I have a better excuse for missing the target, my thyroid messed up and I'm shaking too much.. although I have been able to shake and pull the trigger when the sights line up if it is under 50 yards.. unfortunately I can't even hit the target or for that matter keep it in the scope at 100 yards and I was in the process of getting set up to shoot 200-500 yards.. now I can't even hit 100..
but I'm thankful for the fun of shooting.
Mark
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Well tell you like it is,what matters is the amount of water in the air. It affects the pellets alot more than when it's down. If the winds blowing then it's blowing the water molecules and they are hitting the pellets skirts causing you know what. I've learned that day or nite makes no difference,but the water in the air with wind blowing makes alot of difference in the drift of the pellet. I don't know more than that,but when the humidity is low and the winds blowing it doesn't affect my pellets like it does when it real high.
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Rain molecules are not same as vaporized humidity. I have a shooting house with a roof,so I shoot in all conditions. If wind is blowing the rain you'll have a ton of drift,but if it's falling straight down,it hardly affects the pellets path. I've shot some really nice targets in the rain.
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Humid air is less dense than dry air....despite what it seems.
Cold air is more dense than warm air.
Density Altitude is a good measure of effect on drift.
Mike
Cold air is more dense than warm air.
Density Altitude is a good measure of effect on drift.
Mike
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so I do remember when I was young up at high elevation in the Sierra mountains that my Diana 34 would really crack loud if there was snow on the ground and it was really cold.. but I assumed that was because sounds were louder because of the ice not absorbing sounds.. all hard surfaces and your voice would echo more too ..but I also wondered about the air density and if it changed the sound barrier?
Mark
Mark
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Like Mike said, air density is what matters, and it is driven primarily by temperature, barometric pressure, altitude, and to a lesser extent, humidity. Density altitude is a convenient way to express the combined effect of these factors.
It may be counterintuitive but all other things being held equal, humid air is less dense because water vapor is less dense than nitrogen + oxygen (dry air) and more water vapor brings down the overall density. I can say for sure that when i was a young, limber golfer my drives would sail farthest on a hot day with high humidity. Cold dry air would knock down the ball more quickly. While I wasn't good enough to adjust my wind calls, it's safe to say the ball pushed around more in the wind in cold dry air.
It's been long said that raindrops don't affect firearm projectiles because the bullet spends so little time in the air that it rarely collides with a raindrop. With airgun pellets the same is probably true but not quite as rare since airgun projectiles spend relatively longer time getting to the target.
There's another layer - since we shoot air-powered platforms, the projectile velocity can vary when there are big swings in absolute air density. So sometimes when we think we're seeing the effect of external ballistics (how the pellet flies) we may actually be observing changes in internal ballistics (how the pellet gets moving).
It may be counterintuitive but all other things being held equal, humid air is less dense because water vapor is less dense than nitrogen + oxygen (dry air) and more water vapor brings down the overall density. I can say for sure that when i was a young, limber golfer my drives would sail farthest on a hot day with high humidity. Cold dry air would knock down the ball more quickly. While I wasn't good enough to adjust my wind calls, it's safe to say the ball pushed around more in the wind in cold dry air.
It's been long said that raindrops don't affect firearm projectiles because the bullet spends so little time in the air that it rarely collides with a raindrop. With airgun pellets the same is probably true but not quite as rare since airgun projectiles spend relatively longer time getting to the target.
There's another layer - since we shoot air-powered platforms, the projectile velocity can vary when there are big swings in absolute air density. So sometimes when we think we're seeing the effect of external ballistics (how the pellet flies) we may actually be observing changes in internal ballistics (how the pellet gets moving).
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